Tanzania Trade with Turkey to Increase

November 27, 2009

According to a recent report by The Daily News, Turkey is prepared to begin increasing its overall bilateral trade with Tanzania from USD 60 million to USD 250 million in two years.
In a statement to the Daily News, the Turkish ambassador to Tanzania, Sander Gurbuz, said that the imbalance of bilateral trade was the result of a lack of representation in Tanzania.

“The imbalance of bilateral trade was as a result of Turkey not being represented in Tanzania,” said Ambassador Gurbuz, “but this is going to be adjusted by the robust diplomatic relations that the two countries have concluded.”

Ambassador Gurbuz went on to say that Turkey is focused on continuing to improve relations between the two countries.

“We will strive to improve this trade and concentrate on creating win-win trade cooperation in order to make all aspects of our relations healthy and sound,” he said, “This cannot happen unless the two sides stand to benefit equally both economically and politically.”

According to Ambassador Gurbuz, some Turkish companies have already begun to make contact with potential Tanzania business partners.

“The Turkish confederation which represents medium and small size businesses and industrialists is a very strong body,” explained the Turkish ambassador to The Daily News, “Efforts are underway to bring the Turkish confederation in touch with their respective counterparts in Tanzania by next year.”

The ambassador went on to indicate that, because the Turkish construction industry has already accomplished more that USD 65 billion worth of projects in 60 countries across the world, he is confident that the Tanzania construction industry will benefit from Turkish investment.

“We believe that Tanzania stands to benefit a lot from Turkish construction companies,” he said, “They will be most important to this country.”

Ambassador Gurbuz went on to explain that, because Turkey was equipped with some of the latest technology and know-how that could be invested in Tanzania, Tanzanians would be given the opportunity to train under qualified Turkish engineers.

“This will also be an opportunity for Tanzanians to train under our engineers,” he said, “Our engineers are more than willing to use Tanzania manpower and to transfer know-how to the locals.”

In addition, the ambassador went on to explain that the Turkish companies that are interested in investing in Tanzania are looking for long-term, rather than short-term, partnerships.

“We want our engineers to create technological base, train and transfer technology at the same time to the people of Tanzania,” he said.